Violent, tough, and fast moving, this early film noir like crime drama snaps, crackles and pops even though the plot is filled with more holes than a swiss cheese after a mouse has discovered it. Supposedly crooked cops involved in the illegal goings on behind the scenes of a popular nightclub have their careers destroyed thanks to their involvement with the tough-talking Wynne Gibson. The fact that she's obviously the moll of "big boss" John Miljan isn't enough of a stop sign to keep them from treading into tight-nit quarters with her.
On one raid, Gibson panics, pulls out the gun from the holster of current cop lover Richard Beach and shoots another cop dead so Miljan won't be shot at. Beach grabs it from her and the other cops instinctively shoot him even though he's in full uniform. His death discredits him as a traitor, and his best pal (Kane Richmond) plots a similar betrayal from the police force to clear it. Ironically, he's the son of Irish brogued chief Robert Homans (who is married to the very Scottish Mary Gordon), and his betrayal humiliates dad. Richmond's fiancée (Pauline Moore) is both the late Beach's sister and a photographer at Miljan's joint and this leads to speculation of mixed loyalties and too many hot connections between two organizations that despise each other.
For such an outlandish plot line, which just seems too far-fetched to ever really happen, to end up so enjoyable, praise must be given to the cast, director and even certain elements of the screenplay. Gibson, a tough veteran of bad girls (sometimes misunderstood, other times entirely too obvious), always delivered the goods, sort of a Mae West without the drag queen impersonation. In "Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men", she turned the life of a sap around; Here, she makes a sap out of one, and is fooled by another into thinking she can do the same thing again. Her confrontation scene with Miljan is one of the great film noir monologues, and her character holds no anger back. Even if the rest of the cast just simply walked through the film, she'd make this worth the price of admission.
The romantic pairing of Richmond and Moore is also notable here, as she is the only one really in on what his intentions are. The scene where pop Homans dismisses and humiliates Richmond is followed by an even more emotional one between Homans, Richmond, Moore and Gordon whose cries of anguish over losing her still living son is heartbreaking. So while this films has many flaws, there are so many things in it which have the potential of raising it up a notch, but after reflecting on it, the elements that pull the structure of the story together lower it down to a missed opportunity that have a grave impact on it as a whole.
On one raid, Gibson panics, pulls out the gun from the holster of current cop lover Richard Beach and shoots another cop dead so Miljan won't be shot at. Beach grabs it from her and the other cops instinctively shoot him even though he's in full uniform. His death discredits him as a traitor, and his best pal (Kane Richmond) plots a similar betrayal from the police force to clear it. Ironically, he's the son of Irish brogued chief Robert Homans (who is married to the very Scottish Mary Gordon), and his betrayal humiliates dad. Richmond's fiancée (Pauline Moore) is both the late Beach's sister and a photographer at Miljan's joint and this leads to speculation of mixed loyalties and too many hot connections between two organizations that despise each other.
For such an outlandish plot line, which just seems too far-fetched to ever really happen, to end up so enjoyable, praise must be given to the cast, director and even certain elements of the screenplay. Gibson, a tough veteran of bad girls (sometimes misunderstood, other times entirely too obvious), always delivered the goods, sort of a Mae West without the drag queen impersonation. In "Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men", she turned the life of a sap around; Here, she makes a sap out of one, and is fooled by another into thinking she can do the same thing again. Her confrontation scene with Miljan is one of the great film noir monologues, and her character holds no anger back. Even if the rest of the cast just simply walked through the film, she'd make this worth the price of admission.
The romantic pairing of Richmond and Moore is also notable here, as she is the only one really in on what his intentions are. The scene where pop Homans dismisses and humiliates Richmond is followed by an even more emotional one between Homans, Richmond, Moore and Gordon whose cries of anguish over losing her still living son is heartbreaking. So while this films has many flaws, there are so many things in it which have the potential of raising it up a notch, but after reflecting on it, the elements that pull the structure of the story together lower it down to a missed opportunity that have a grave impact on it as a whole.